LAS VEGAS – For the better part of six rounds, it appeared Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic was witnessing the difference in class between himself and former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
With blunt instruction from his corner, sudden success in unleashing his right hand and Gvozdyk caving to his age of 38, Kalajdzic produced a stunning victory by first dropping Gvozdyk and then finishing him with distinct follow-up power blows.
“They told me to believe in myself, stay behind the jab and throw the right – and it worked,” Kalajdzic, 30-3 (22 KOs), said in the ring after his seventh-round knockout win was recorded at the 2:47 mark on Sunday.
Gvozdyk knocked down Kalajdzic less than two minutes into the first round, sending a hard right to the jaw that showed both the former champion’s undiminished power along with the Serbian’s rust.
Intent to be cast as the aggressor, Gvozdyk again found Kalajdzic in the second and closed the round with a scoring combination.
Gvozdyk, 21-3 (17 KOs), dropped Kalajdzic again in the fourth thanks to a combination on the ropes set up by hammering rights to the head and a closing body shot.
A near knockdown in the fifth occurred from another onslaught, as Kalajdzic ducked to the ropes for relief, prompting Gvozdyk to stop the abuse until the referee ruled he had not touched the canvas.
Former light-heavyweight champion Gvozdyk won the WBC belt by knocking out Adonis Stevenson in 2018, only to lose it one year later versus former undisputed champion Artur Beterbiev.
He took off more than three years after the rugged defeat, then went the distance in a 2024 pay-per-view bout versus current WBC champion David Benavidez.
Kalajdzic has also fought Beterbiev – suffering a fifth-round knockout five months before Gvozdyk fought him – and last fought in August 2024 while going the distance in a loss versus David Morrell.
“It feels good to be back,” Kalajdzic said.
Earlier on the Zuffa Boxing undercard at the Apex, a quality scrap transpired between lightweights Justin Viloria and Oscar Perez with the pair of southpaws engaging in a fight-long slugfest that went to Viloria by scores of 79-73, 78-74, 77-75.
Viloria, 21, a nephew of former world champion Brian Viloria, was once a prized prospect of Premier Boxing Champions, and has the opportunity now to fight more steadily than seeing limited action on PBC’s infrequent Prime Video pay-per-view cards.
Houston’s Valdez, 26, who has sparred with former featherweight world champion Joseph Diaz Jnr, matched Viloria’s activity and power through the first half of the bout. Valdez is a natural right-hander who fights lefty, and the two-handed power earned Viloria’s respect.
Viloria, 12-0, answered the pressure with his own effective combinations in the sixth, and Valdez, 14-1-2, closed with clean head shots.
Both fighters jarred their opponents’ heads with seventh-round punches with Viloria closing more impressively.
In a 10-round middleweight affair, Jalil Hackett edged Roberto Cruz by majority decision scores of 95-95, 96-94 and 97-93 to improve to 12-1.
Hackett staggered Cruz, 11-2, with a right uppercut in the fourth round, and continued sending upward-aimed blows until the bell rang. Puerto Rico’s Cruz was seen being treated for a bloody nose between rounds.
Welterweight Damoni Cato-Cain, a former sparring partner of Terence Crawford from Oakland, California, showed off his boxing skill and conditioning in dealing Las Vegas’ Christian Morales his first loss following a 7-0 start with seven knockouts.
Cato-Cain outlanded Morales, 137-100, and won on the scorecards 80-72, 79-73, 78-74.
Cato-Cain displayed a southpaw stance early, was more active and precise and asked to be kept busy after being inactive in 2025.
New Jersey cruiserweight Jamar Talley opened the card with the first knockout by a Zuffa fighter inside the Apex, decking Houston’s Devonte Williams with one second remaining in the second round.
“We made history!” Talley trainer Brian “BoMac” McIntyre shouted at the Paramount+ broadcast team as he left the ring.
The 25-year-old Talley, 6-0 (5 KOs), has now finished five of his opponents before the end of the second round, saying he put extra emphasis on his jab and body shots.
Florida heavyweight Da’Mazion Vanhouter followed Talley with a second consecutive early finish, unloading a barrage on Mexico’s Julian Gomez in his corner to trigger a third-round stoppage.
Vanhouter, 11-0 (8 KOs), dropped Gomez, 7-4, with a right uppercut in the first round and battered him with left hooks to the body and blows to the head to close the session, easing off in the second before recording the finish 1:27 into the third.
“I wanted to slow down the pace to see what was open … I just brought the pace in the third,” Vanhouter said
With Zuffa presenting steady shows thus far, Vanhouter expressed enthusiasm about progressing through the promotion as that most valuable of commodities: an American heavyweight.
